Studying the picture

This is a drawing by a former pupil of mine, who at one time also became my neighbour. When she had read a text of mine about Mary Magdalene, she surprised me with a number of drawings. The alabaster jar is changed into a flask, and she adds a detail: a pigeon, symbolising peace? 
Frida's Mary Magdalene is not happy in a crowd; her comings and goings are meditative. She bears an inner treasure. Look at her feet. Is she at the point of taking another direction? 

Reflection

Jacqueline Dauxois writes: 'We do not know anything about the young years of Mary also called the Magdalene. The gospel does not mention her parents. This woman must have been rather well-to-do, for she was able to support Jesus and his disciples, and certainly also of a high position in society, if we are to believe Luke, who mentions her before the wife of the Prime Minister of Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch who governed Galilee and Perea.'